After Pei Yanzhou died in battle, Lu Qingci remained a widow for him for ten years.
She sold her dowry to make up for the deficit of the Hou family, served her paralyzed mother-in-law, educated the two orphaned children of the Pei family, and asked for a title of loyalty for her late husband. In ten years, she went from being the most talented woman in the capital to becoming a chaste mistress praised by everyone.
But the last two children she raised personally stood in front of their biological mother, calling her jealous and vicious; her second uncle misappropriated her dowry accounts; and the family elders forced her to continue to maintain the dignity of the Pei family. In the end, a glass of poisonous wine ended her life.
When he woke up again, Lu Qingci returned to the day when the news of Pei Yanzhou's "death in battle" came to the Hou Mansion.
Everyone in the palace was waiting for her to cut her hair and swear an oath to observe integrity throughout her life, but she took off her filial piety hairpin in public and opened the account book of the Marquis Mansion.
She refused to accept the chastity arch, recovered all the dowry, and turned around to marry Pei Yanzhou's political rival, Gu Chenyuan, the youngest chief minister in the dynasty.
Gu Chenyuan is cold-faced and taciturn, and is rumored to be not a womanizer. He agreed to the marriage and only put forward three conditions: "You won't take concubines for me, you won't raise other people's children for me, and you don't have to be a good wife."
Lu Qingci asked: "Then what should I do?"
He handed her half of the household registration reform bill: "Do what you want to do."
So, the mistress who was trapped in the inner house in her previous life walked into the court.
Pei Yanzhou knelt in the rain and begged her to take a look, but Gu Chenyuan stood beside her with an umbrella and reminded her quietly: "Madam, he has delayed your entry into the palace to discuss politics."
Later, the emperor's throne changed, and Gu Chenyuan's power became overwhelming. Everyone in the world guessed that he would depose the emperor and establish himself. He burned the letters of persuasion sent by the officials and gave her only a love letter that had not been completed many years after their marriage.
"The whole world can work together."
"Lu Qingci, can you give me some of your sincerity?"
